A judge in Colorado has set bail at $25,000 for John Shin to be set free, pending an immigration hearing. That is more than Shin earns in a year. Reporter Allison Sherry of CPR News has assembled the full facts of his case, and the justice system does not come out well.
Here’s the latest: Shin remains among the roughly 1,200 people inside the GEO detention facility picked up by ICE in recent months and weeks in the Trump administration’s promised crackdown on illegal immigration. Recent records show of the 1,256 people inside the facility on Aug. 17, 2025, 395 were “criminals” and 862 were not. It’s unclear how they would classify Shin’s case, given he had resolved and fulfilled the requirements of his impaired driving infraction in 2019.
Shin’s wife, Snow, traveled to Colorado on Tuesday for his hearing. Shin filed into the detention center courtroom in a red shirt with a dozen other immigration inmates at the facility. He didn’t make eye contact with a supporter in the back row and sat by himself at the defense table because his attorney telephoned in from Utah.
He waved off Korean interpreters because he speaks English. His family has started a GoFundMe to help pay his bond and legal fees.
The government argued that the family has had years to seek legal status for Shin, and just had not taken the steps even after knowing he had lost his DACA status.
“I’m still nervous,” Snow said, with her children nearby after the hearing. “This is just the beginning of the rest of our battles, but my attorneys keep telling me that he is the type of person that we want here. They were saying that he has such amazing support and has proven his character. And so I just really believe that good will overcome.”
Read Allison’s full report here. The facts are more complex thatn first appeared.
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